A News of the World reporter who interviewed the private investigator Glenn Mulcaire in 2002 about his football career has said that it was "generally known" at the time that he worked for the paper, the Old Bailey has heard.

Geoff Sweet told the jury in the hacking trial on Tuesday that he had interviewed Mulcaire for a "novelty story" on AFC Wimbledon.

His story appeared on page 82 and told readers that as well as a footballer, Mulcaire "was part of our special investigations team".

"I'd interviewed Glenn Mulciare who I knew to be the centre forward for Wimbledon and knew to work, had effectively worked, for the News of the World," Sweet said.

Asked how he knew this, he said: "I understood he was part of the special investigations team and because I was part of the News of the World empire, it was just generally known."

Under cross-examination Sweet said he could not remember writing the story or writing that Mulcaire had worked for the paper.

Sweet made a brief appearance at the trial as a prosecution witness.

In the opening of the trial, the prosecution had challenged an assertion by Rebekah Brooks, who is facing five charges, that she did not know who Mulcaire was when she was News of the World editor between 2000 and 2003, by citing Sweet's article.

Under cross-examination by Jonathan Laidlaw, QC, counsel for Brooks, Sweet said he was not stationed permanently at the News of the World offices and would only visit once every six weeks or so.

He told Laidlaw that he did not think Mulcaire was talked about at the offices. "As far as I'm aware Mulcaire was never discussed."

He went on to say he was not sure if he had written that Mulcaire was part of the special investigations team or whether it had been added by someone else.

"I can't remember writing the story. For all I know, that might have been written in by the sports desk to add a bit of kudos to [the] story."

Details of the News of the World's former chief footballer writer Robert Beasley were found in Mulcaire's notebook, along with the name "Mutu", the court heard.

Beasley, now chief sports correspondent on the Sun, said he did not know before police had shown him that his name and mobile number were in the private investigator's notebooks.

He told the jury he believed the notes may have been written at a time when he was working on a story about the then Chelsea footballer Adrian Mutu.

Asked if Mulcaire had been the subject of "office gossip" at the Sunday tabloid, he replied: "Absolutely not. I didn't even know the guy existed."

He was asked by Laidlaw: " As far as phone hacking is concerned, at no time did you see, hear, or suspect that anyone within the News of the World was engaged in unlawfully accessing voicemail messages?"

"Absolutely no idea at all," replied Beasley.

Earlier, Harry Scott, a former night editor at the News of the World, told the court that he did not think the original Milly Dowler story in 2002 suggested she had been hacked, even though the article contained a reference to voice messages.

He said he couldn't remember the story on page 9 or the second version that appeared in a later edition.

Timothy Langdale, counsel for the deputy editor at the time, Andy Coulson, put it to him: "Had you read it at the time, you would not have suggested that the News of the World hacked Milly Dowler's phone?"

Scott replied: "No, not at all."

Langdale spent much of the morning at the Old Bailey quizzing Scott on the production of the paper and the layout of the News of the World offices, which the jury heard included a windowless "secret room" which was used to produce exclusives.

At one point there was loud laughter from the dock as Stuart Kuttner, the former managing editor of the paper, who is on a charge of conspiring to hack phones, reacted to an intervention from the judge.

Scott was explaining how a "spoof" edition of the paper would be produced to protect an exclusive being copied by a rival, such as the revelation that David Beckham had an affair with Rebecca Loos.

There was another moment of levity when Scott explained how determined production staff were to get the newspaper out in time.

"If you cut a reporter in half, you will see expenses written through them like a stick of rock, if you cut a production person in half, you will see deadline," he said.

The minutae of the News of the World production system was explained to the jury including the use of a "secret queue" of stories which Scott explained was "like an ultra-secret queue" of stories which only the editor, the production editor and other top selected staff had access to.

"I would go there with an artist and a sub and draw the page in a secret room," Scott said.